.Her father was the actor Eric Thompson, best known for having written and narrated The Magic Roundabout, shown on BBC children's television in the 1960s and 1970s.^Father is stage director Eric Thompson .

^She was a member of the Cambridge Footlights and in 1981, along with Stephen Fry , Tony Slattery , Hugh Laurie , Paul Dwyer and Paul Shearer , she became the winner of the first ever Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

.Her acting talent was so impressive that agent Richard Armitage signed her to a contract while she was still two years away from graduation.^Emma graduated from Newnham College, Cambridge University in 1982 and had intended to become a writer, however whilst at Cambridge she was persuaded to join the Footlights and so impressed agent Richard Armitage that he signed her to a contract while she was still two years away from graduation.

.Thompson graduated from Cambridge in 1980. Soon after she came to fame with a leading role in the West End revival of the musical Me and My Girl, opposite Robert Lindsay, followed by the BBC serial drama, Fortunes of War.^Two years later, she played Sally Smith in the West End revival of Me and My Girl with Robert Lindsay.

Career

.Thompson's earliest television appearances included the comedy sketch show Alfresco, broadcast in 1983 and 1984 (as well as its three-part pilot There's Nothing to Worry About, shown in 1982), which also featured Ben Elton, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.^Featuring then blossoming stars like Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, ALFRESCO was aired in 1983 but didn't make it to a second season.

.Also in 1984 she guested alongside Fry and Laurie in the episode "Bambi" of the sitcom The Young Ones, playing Miss Money-Sterling.^That episode of The Young Ones where they ended up on University Challenge against a team from a posh Uni....Thompson, Fry&Laurie, and Ben Elton...

^The show was a success and she received favorable reviews, and the strength of her performance led to her casting as the lead in the BBC television miniseries "Fortunes of War" (1987) (mini), in which Thompson and her co-star, Kenneth Branagh, play an English ex-patriate couple living in Eastern Europe as the Second World War erupts.

.In 1988, she starred in and wrote the eponymous Thompson comedy sketch series for BBC1; the series was not successful with audiences or critics.^In 1988, she starred in and wrote the eponymously titled "Thompson" comedy sketch series for BBC1.

.Described in Time Out magazine as "very clever-little-me-ish",[citation needed] it has never been repeated in Britain despite her Oscar successes, and Thompson has not returned to the sketch comedy field.^After time out for motherhood and a chance to concentrate on her writing, Thompson made a triumphant return to acting playing a rigid college professor stricken with cancer in the HBO adaptation of "Wit" (2001).

.Thompson's first major film role was in Richard Curtis's 1989 romantic comedy, The Tall Guy, co-starring Jeff Goldblum.^After appearing in The Tall Guy (1989) with Jeff Goldblum, she starred as the lead female in Branagh's film adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V (1989).

^Thompson starred with Branagh in Henry V (1989), which he directed, and followed with two more Branagh-directed films, the thriller Dead Again (1991), in which the couple played dual roles, and the sentimental comedy Peter’s Friends (1992).

.She has said that she keeps both of her award statues in her downstairs bathroom, citing embarrassment at placing them in a more prominent place.^And yes, she says it's true that she keeps the Academy Award she won for her role in the Merchant Ivory production Howards End (1992) in the bathroom of her London house.

.Thompson's recent television work has included a starring role in the 2001 HBO drama Wit, in which she played a dying cancer patient, and 2003's Angels in America, playing multiple roles, including one of the titular angels.^Is good friends with Meryl Streep after starring with her in "Angels in America" (2003).

^America, Lost and Found ON TELEVISION about “Angels in America.” There is wide agreement that Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America”––about AIDS, the Reagan years, sexuality, love, death, religion––is the most important play of the last decade.

.Her Emmy Award was as a guest star in a 1997 episode of the show Ellen; in this episode she played a fictionalised parody of herself: a closeted lesbian more concerned with the media finding out she is actually American.^This story of the famed Bloomsbury painter was not nearly as successful as Sense, and Thompson was not seen again on the screen until 1997, when she starred in Alan Rickman's The Winter Guest.

.The film Nanny McPhee, adapted by Emma Thompson from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books, was first released in October 2005. Thompson worked on the project for nine years, having written the screenplay and starred alongside her mother (who has a cameo appearance).^Nanny McPhee is Thompson's pet project; she's been working on it for nine years and wrote the screenplay.

.Due to scheduling conflicts, Thompson will not reprise her role as Sybill Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.^Emma Thompson has announced that she will not return to reprise her role as divination professor Sybill Trelawney for the two-part Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movies: .

[citation needed] In 2009, she appeared on the panel of QI in the Film episode, which aired on 6 March 2009 and repeated on 29 January 2010.

Environmental work

Thompson in 2008

.Thompson is a Greenpeace activist, and, on 13 January 2009, after flying in from attending the Golden Globe ceremony in the US, it was announced that Thompson, in partnership with three other Greenpeace activists, had bought land near the village of Sipson, a village whose homes are under threat from the proposed third runway for Heathrow Airport.^MPs revolt over third Heathrow runway .

[3].It is hoped that the area of ground, half the size of a football pitch, will prevent the government from carrying through its plan to expand Heathrow.^It will certainly be a big blow to the government's insane plans to expand Heathrow.

The field, bought for an undisclosed sum from a local land owner, will be split into small squares and sold across the globe. .When interviewed, Thompson said: "I don't understand how any government remotely serious about committing to reversing climate change can even consider these ridiculous plans.^Ms Thompson said: "I don't understand how any government remotely serious about committing to reversing climate change can even consider these ridiculous plans.

.We'll stop this from happening even if we have to move in and plant vegetables."^We’ll stop this from happening even if we have to move in and plant vegetables,” said Emma Thompson on Friday as she signed the deeds for land that had been earmarked for Heathrow’s third runway.

Personal life

.While she was at Cambridge University, Thompson had a romantic relationship with fellow student and actor Hugh Laurie[citation needed], who was also a member of the Cambridge Footlights, and was conveniently attending Selwyn College right across the street from Newnham.^During their time together at Cambridge Footlights, she and Hugh Laurie dated.

[6].The couple have a daughter, Gaia Romilly, born in 1999. In 2003, Thompson and Wise informally adopted a 16-year-old Rwandan refugee named Tindyebwa Agaba.^For Thompson that means her husband, actor Greg Wise, and their 9-year-old daughter, Gaia.

.They are currently fighting his deportation back to Rwanda where it is thought all his family were killed in the genocide.^Emma: It’s great fun because the whole thing is like a huge extended family and the wizardry involved is all to do with the fact that they have managed to make seven of these films without killing each other.

Thompson is an outspoken anti-religious atheist: "I'm an atheist; I suppose you can call me a sort of libertarian anarchist. I regard religion with fear and suspicion. .It's not enough to say that I don't believe in God.^Send this to Dustin quickly, quickly before he's forgotten that he said he wanted to work with me again.” ‘Cause you don't believe anything anyone says.

.I actually regard the system as distressing: I am offended by some of the things said in the Bible and the Qur'an, and I refute them."^Too bad for the Gimli casting thing but as some of you said at this point it's better to take all those rumors with a grain of salt and consider them for what they are: RUMORS and not facts.

Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.19 January 2010 18:23 UTCwww.aintitcool.com [Source type: General]

.I don't
wish to burden you with my debts, which are heavy and numerous but,
um, I think that everybody involved in the making of this film
knows that we owe all our pride and all our joy to the genius of Jane Austen.^And that makes me uncomfortable, you know?

Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.19 January 2010 18:23 UTCwww.aintitcool.com [Source type: General]

.Four a.m., having just returned from an evening at the Golden
Spheres, which despite the inconveniences of heat, noise and
overcrowding was not without its pleasures.^Four a.m., having just returned from an evening at the Golden Spheres, which despite the inconveniences of heat, noise and overcrowding was not without its pleasures.

The gowns were middling. .There was a good
deal of shouting and behaviour verging on the profligate, however,
people were very free with their compliments and I made several new
acquaintences.^There was a good deal of shouting and behaviour verging on the profligate, however, people were very free with their compliments and I made several new acquaintences.

.There was Lindsay Doran of Mirage, wherever that
might be, who's largely responsible for my presence here, an
enchanting companion about whom too much good cannot be said.^There was Lindsay Doran of Mirage, wherever that might be, who's largely responsible for my presence here, an enchanting companion about whom too much good cannot be said.

Mr.
Ang Lee, of foreign extraction, who most unexpectedly appeared to
understand me better than I understand myself. Mr. James Shamis, a
most copiously erudite person and Miss Kate Winslet, beautiful in
both countenance and spirit. Mr. Pat Doyle, a composer and a Scot,
who displayed the kind of wild behaviour one has learned to expect
from that race. Mr. Mark Kenton, an energetic person with a ready
smile who, as I understand it, owes me a great deal of money.
[Breaks character, smiles] TRUE!! [back in character] Miss Lisa
Henson of Columbia, a lovely girl and Mr. Garrett Wiggin, a lovely
boy. I attempted to converse with Mr. Sydney Pollack, but his
charms and wisdom are so generally pleasing, that it proved
impossible to get within ten feet of him. .The room was full of
interesting activity until 11 p.m.^The room was full of interesting activity until 11 p.m.

when it emptied rather suddenly.
The lateness of the hour is due, therefore, not to the dance, but
to the waiting in a long line for a horseless carriage of
unconscionable size. .The modern world has clearly done nothing for
transport.^The modern world has clearly done nothing for transport.

^Yes, yes, we know this too: the Academy loves giving actors Best Director Oscars, even when they really, really don't deserve them (like, for instance, that time Costner won Best Director for Dances With Wolves over Martin Scorsese for GoodFellas ).

.Profound thanks to Columbia Pictures and the lovely forms of
Lisa Henson, Gary Wiggan, and Mark Canter for hiring a first-time
writer; to James Shamus for his rare intelligence; to Sidney
Pollack for asking all the right questions, like 'Why couldn't
these women go out and get a job?'^Be the first person to mark this question as interesting!

.And finally, I would like with
your permission to dedicate this Oscar to our director, Ang Lee.^The Texas-born humorist who wrote Bullets Over Broadway with Woody Allen lacks the flair for composition that director Ang Lee bestowed on Sense and Sensibility.